204 Book(s) Related to hand jumper chapter 35

My husband Michael's father and my own father shared the same name—Robert. His was Robert Carter; mine, Robert Smith. I once thought it a sweet coincidence, until that 3 AM phone call turned this quirk of fate into a living nightmare.
The nursing home called to say Robert Carter had died, but when Michael returned from his business trip, he assumed it was my father who had passed. "Old Robert's finally gone," he smirked. "Should've moved him to the cheaper nursing home ages ago." Can you believe it? His own father—the man who'd left him an inheritance—and there he was, helping his medical intern mistress cover up malpractice, dismissing the death as "just some useless old man."
He has no idea he's protecting his father's killer. No clue I've seen through his cold-bloodedness all along.
I wonder, when the truth finally hits him, how will this absurd tragedy end?

At the dinner party, Alexander had his arm around my waist, chatting and laughing with clients in German.
I was about to tell him the happy news that I was pregnant.
He was tender and affectionate in front of me, kissing my cheek from time to time.
But they didn't know my German was fluent enough to understand every dirty detail.
Like right now, I heard him bragging to the client about how wild things got last night with his stepsister Lillian.

I'm an ancient vampire prince who's been playing human boyfriend to a demon hunter.
Big mistake.
She's completely unhinged—GPS tracking, 24/7 surveillance, the works.
When she threatens to dump me unless I surrender all my secrets, I do the unthinkable:
I actually say yes.
Too bad she doesn't know her "helpless" boyfriend has been the one keeping her alive all this time.

"If you want a shot at the Olympics, and if you want that NHL draft, you will announce that you’ve been quietly dating," the Dean ordered, sliding the fake contract across the desk. I looked at Reid Carter, the arrogant hockey captain who had sabotaged my skates, the man I had despised for ten years. Now, I had to pretend to be deeply in love with him for ninety days. I grabbed the pen, my fingers trembling, and signed my name. "Perfect," the PR manager smiled. "Tonight is the bonfire. Act like you actually like her. Iris, try not to look like you're plotting his murder."

We walked into the dark parking lot, the scent of burning wood filling the air. "Ready to sell our souls?" Reid murmured, his massive hand suddenly wrapping around mine. An unexpected jolt of electricity shot up my arm. His skin was rough, calloused from years of gripping a hockey stick, but his heat melted right through my cold fingers. We stepped into the firelight, surrounded by a hundred whispering athletes and flashing cameras. I leaned my head against his broad shoulder, playing the perfect, obsessed girlfriend. "She's worth the trouble," he told the crowd, his voice dark and unreadable.

But when the cameras were gone, the lines began to blur. In the empty locker room, he pinned me against the cold metal lockers, his chest heaving. "You're squeezing too hard," I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs. "You're the one shaking, Ice Queen," he growled back, his face inches from mine. We were supposed to hate each other. We were supposed to be a PR stunt to save our funding. But as his gaze dropped to my lips, the fiery tension between us felt dangerously real. Would the world find out we were a fraud, or would this fake contract destroy us both?

Five years ago, during a passionate sexual encounter, Freya Myers stole sperm from a mysterious and dangerous man, intending to have a genetically superior child. That man was none other than Declan Castle, the ruthless, enigmatic CEO of the globally renowned Castle Group.

Five years later, Freya Myers returns to the city with a pair of exceptionally gifted twins, desperately trying to conceal their existence from the world. But when she interviews for an internship, she unexpectedly encounters Declan Castle—the very same man from years ago—as her interviewer. From then on, Declan Castle becomes a persistent, demonic force haunting her!

Five years ago, a single, desperate mistake changed Freya Myers's life forever. Intending to secure a future with the man of her dreams, she ended up in the wrong room, stealing the 'seed' of the wrong man. That man was Declan Castle—the cold, ruthless, and enigmatic CEO of the world-renowned Castle Group.

Now, Freya has returned to the city as a struggling single mother, hiding a pair of genius twins from the world. When she lands an internship at the Castle Group, she hopes to remain invisible. But fate has other plans. Declan Castle, a man who has remained mysteriously untouched by any woman since that fateful night, instantly senses something familiar about the new designer. He has spent years searching for the woman who 'ruined' him, and now that he has found her, he has no intention of letting her go.

Forced into a high-stakes marriage of convenience with the domineering CEO, Freya must navigate the treacherous waters of high society while desperately guarding her children's true identity. Between a scheming stepmother, jealous socialites, and a series of deadly secrets, the walls are closing in.

What started as a game of cat-and-mouse and a quest for revenge soon ignites into a passion that neither can control. In a world where power is everything and betrayal is a way of life, can Freya protect her heart and her children, or will the relentless Mr. Castle claim everything she’s been trying to hide?

Six years ago, Rachel Neal was drugged and betrayed by her wicked stepmother and envious half-sister, leaving her pregnant and cast out in disgrace. Now, she has returned to Phoeiro City as a brilliant doctor and a fiercely independent single mother to six extraordinary prodigies—five genius boys and one adorable, mischievous girl. Her only goals are to protect her children, provide for her family, and reclaim the life and stolen work her toxic family took from her.

But fate has a different plan. When Rachel accidentally saves the life of Troy Langley—the most powerful, ruthless, and untouchable billionaire in the city—she unknowingly reunites with the mysterious man from that fateful night six years ago. Captivated by her fierce spirit and beauty, Troy is determined to make Rachel his, unaware that she is the mother of his six hidden heirs.

As the domineering CEO relentlessly pursues the elusive doctor, her six little matchmakers begin plotting in the shadows to secure a powerful protector for their mommy. Will Troy discover the truth about his genius sextuplets? And can Rachel finally serve justice to her enemies while opening her guarded heart to a love she never expected?

Swapped at birth and stripped of her rightful place, Mia Jones thought her life couldn't get any worse after her scheming sister, Eleanor, stole her family and her fiancé. But a malicious plot leads Mia into the wrong room.

Drugged and thrown into the wrong man’s bed. Mia Jones realized her hands were tied to the bed frame. A towering silhouette radiating a dangerous aura stood at the foot of the bed. Before she could process what was happening, she was claimed by a violent kiss from that man… unaware that the man she left behind was the ruthless heir of the Greco Empire and powerful billionaire. A man powerful enough to ruin cities with a single word. A man who never lets women near him, Dylan Greco.
When Dylan wakes, the mysterious woman is gone.
“Have you uncovered the identity of the woman last night?”
“Boss, we couldn’t find anything. That woman… must have broken in by accident.”
But he remembers her. And he wants answers.

Escaping into the night, Mia Jones tries to bury the traumatic memory, unaware that the CEO is tearing the city apart to find the mysterious woman with the crescent-shaped scar on her back.
Fate brings them together again when Mia unknowingly takes a job as the therapist for Dylan's autistic son, "Little Shrimp"—a child who instantly connects with her and calls her "Mummy". As Dylan unravels the truth about that dark night, he vows to protect Mia and help her reclaim everything that was stolen from her. But with a manipulative sister, a treacherous family, and deadly enemies lurking in the shadows, will their unexpected bond survive? It's a gripping tale of sweet revenge, hidden secrets, and a romance that could bring an empire to its knees.

"Please, don't leave me alone! I want you to be my mommy!"

Twana Murray thought she was just taking in a lost, pitiful four-year-old boy she met on the street. She didn't realize she was stepping right into an adorable, meticulously calculated trap. The child was none other than the hidden heir of the Levis family, and he had just claimed her as his mother.
Enter Zekariah Levis—Slington’s most ruthless, untouchable billionaire, a man notorious for his icy demeanor and complete aversion to women. Plagued by a crippling, incurable insomnia, Zekariah discovers a bizarre miracle: Twana’s voice is the only cure that can bring his tortured mind to rest.
What begins as an accidental encounter quickly spirals into a fierce, all-consuming obsession. Zekariah will stop at nothing to claim what is his. When sleazy investors try to harass her at work, the domineering CEO quietly buys out her entire company just to shield her. When she is nearly attacked in a dark alley, he doesn't just save her life—he orders her entire neighborhood to be illuminated with new streetlights overnight, so she never has to walk in the shadows again.
Despite his overwhelming protection and the little boy's sweet pleas, Twana desperately tries to escape the billionaire's grasp, clinging to her blind loyalty for an overseas boyfriend.
But no one escapes Zekariah Levis. As the web of betrayal around her personal life begins to unravel, Twana is backed into a corner. How long can she resist the billionaire's suffocating possession? And what will happen when the chilling conspiracy of a delivery room from five years ago is finally brought to light?

She was the best candidate to become the Queen, the Moon Goddess’s most favored. But Hestia gave it all up just to marry Alpha Augustus, the strongest Alpha in the country, and create a happier and more beautiful family with him.

That is, until he and her twin sister Medea betrayed her, and she found herself lying in the middle of a forest, half-dead and disfigured. She wanted to question the Goddess’s plans for her. Or if she even still cares for her at all. After all, she was now nothing but a damaged child.

But when she was saved by the enemy Crown Prince and the leader of the Rogues, Hestia realized that there was a bigger truth needed to uncover, four hearts of the most powerful men for her to own, and a throne to claim.

Back for vengeance against those who wronged her, Hestia must defeat Medea, the current strongest Queen candidate, and expose the dark truths of the Lycan’s high society. But in the middle of the chaos and the calls of her fated mates, would she be able to dance along?

An enemy, an ally, an old friend, and the one who betrayed her the most. Would she open her heart again for any of them, or let her revenge consume what’s left in her heart entirely?

Traiver waited ten years to make the hunters pay. He planned to break their daughter slowly, completely, until her pain balanced his own. He never expected her to ask for it.
"Hurt me," she whispered, offering her throat and her guilt. "Do whatever you need."
Traiver's fingers trembled. He hated her for this. Hated that she saw the wound beneath the monster. Hated that when he finally touched her, it wasn't to destroy. He took everything she offered. Then he took more.
Hatred twisted into hunger. Cruelty blurred into possession. Every punishment became a claim, every touch a dangerous temptation. Navelle's innocence both tormented and captivated him, threatening to unravel the vengeance he had spent a decade perfecting.
But vengeance has a price. When the hunters' daughter carries his child, Traiver must choose. The revenge that fed his demons, or the family that could finally starve them?

Isabella Vaughn was poisoned by her husband Marcus and his lover Serena, dying in his arms for her pharma empire.
She awakens on her funeral day, reborn in the body of Lila Harrington, the dazzling heiress engaged to Julian Blackwood, heir to her family’s fiercest rival.
With a new face and enemy access, Isabella vows revenge. But Julian notices the change: sharper eyes, hidden secrets.
Trapped pretending to love the man who might see through her, her vengeance could destroy them both.

A love story where pride makes it hard to listen, and prejudice harder to acknowledge feelings. A young college student (Rose) who seeks nothing but perfection, tries to avoid the pain we taste once in love, acting like she has philophobia. She meets a guy (Sam) who'll come into her life like a thunder, surprisingly but doesn't leave as easy nor as quickly, instead her world flips upside down, making her question everything she once stood for.

In ordinary teenage life, Chris, a 16-year-old, encounters Abbey, a new girl who brings change and potential. However, Josh, a charismatic peer, lures Chris towards a treacherous path. As temptation looms, Chris strives to gather the 'Fallen' to combat corruption. They embark on a journey through realms, solving puzzles, and seeking to free an imprisoned fallen angel. Betrayals test their resolve, yet a resilient reunion reignites their unity, even in hell. Unveiling connections to ancient fallen angels, they confront God to save humanity's existence. This epic saga explores bonds, cosmic trials, and the eternal clash of light and darkness, revealing the strength of unity and the enduring human spirit.

There's nothing crazier than me destroying my own life by dating a crazy man until I ended up pregnant with his damn child. Oh, my child is not wrong, but I started to hate my child when my boyfriend said, "Just abort it!"
In deep hurt and anger, I found myself despairing of life.
I went to see a friend named Damian to get an abortion pill, but through Damian, I found a reason to keep my life and this baby.
When I decided to start a new life, my damn boyfriend Dylan suddenly came back wanting to marry me and take responsibility for this baby.
The planned wedding was canceled because we discovered Dylan's true identity as a mafia member; clearly, my family wouldn't accept that. Another shocking fact I received was that behind Dylan's return, there was an intention to bring down my father.
A fight between my father and Dylan occurred, leading to my father's death, and Dylan still wanted our wedding to happen. And on our wedding day, I gave everyone a big surprise.
"Wow, a black dress. Are you cursing your own wedding?" Dylan stared at me, shocked and angry, in front of all the invited guests.
"Black is a symbol of mourning. And my father just died at the hands of his son-in-law."
Since then, I've spent my days as Dylan's wife and thot about how to get revenge.

Hanna and Ashlee are twin sisters living in a small town lost in the depths of the forest. Despite their charming appearance and golden hair, the sisters' lives are far from perfect. When their peaceful existence is threatened by a mysterious supernatural presence, the young women find themselves immersed in a world of magic and danger.

One day, when the sun disappears and the full moon illuminates the dark horizon, their paths cross with a guy who seems to be perfect named Edgar. Edgar is known in the magical realms as a fearsome leader with a dark heart. However, when his eyes meet Hanna and Ashlee's, something changes within him. His desire of kill and have the two sisters into his hands, will be just the begging...

The twins discover that their blood hides an ancestral secret and that only they have the power to free Edar from his lycanthropic curse. Together, they must embark on a journey full of obstacles and dangers to find the necessary elements that will trigger an ancient ritual capable of breaking the chains that imprison the real identity of Edgar: a cruel werewolf king.

On their journey, the twins and Edgar will face betrayals, fantastical creatures, and the constant struggle against their own inner fears. Meanwhile, love and trust will become the fundamental pillars that keep them united in this extraordinary adventure.

"The Twins and the Serial Killer" is a captivating story that combines magic and romance, showing that even the darkest beings can find redemption through love and inner strength. An epic journey that will forever change the fate of the protagonists and the magical realms they inhabit.

For the love of him, I hid my billions and played the invisible wife for three years. Now? The game is over.
For three years, Elena endured a husband who barely acknowledged her, a mother-in-law who treated her like hired help, and a sister-in-law who sneered that she was nothing but a golddigger. All the while, her husband, Damien, pined after his "perfect" ex, like his own wife didn't exist.
The morning after their third anniversary, her mother-in-law delivered the final blow:
"Damien's right. You're not going anywhere. I don't want you bringing shame to my son, not now that he just closed a major deal. Besides, you're not smart enough or strong enough to survive on your own."
"We'll see," Elena said quietly.
She signed the divorce papers, packed a single bag, and vanished.
Damien was certain she'd come crawling back within a week. But the woman they all dismissed? Turns out Elena is a billionaire heiress, the CEO of the very empire Damien has been desperate to partner with and the one now signing his paychecks.
Oops.
Now Damien is spiraling, realizing too late what he lost. But Elena has choices she never had before. Like her childhood best friend, an NFL star who's been in love with her all along.
So who will it be?
The ex-husband who finally woke up?
The best friend who never left?
Or has Elena finally decided she's done with men who don't deserve her?

Blake pinned me against the edge of the desk, his fingertips scorching, papers scattering across the floor. "Stop lying to yourself," he murmured coldly, "You need me."

I should have hated him—his father was the prime suspect in my parents' death, yet his touch made me tremble. "I hate you…" I gritted my teeth, but my voice was weak.

He smirked, his grip tightening, "Yet your body is responding to me." His fingers slid deeper, "So wet, and you still say you don’t want me?"

"Ah…Blake…" I arched my back, my sanity crumbling.

He chuckled softly, "Good girl."


After Emma's parents passed away, she was supported by the Reynolds family, particularly Gavin. She gradually fell in love with him. After knowing each other for ten years and being together for five, she accidentally discovered Gavin's ambiguous relationship with Sophia, his late brother's widow, just as she was about to marry him.

Then fate led her to an emotional entanglement with Blake from her partner company, but it also hinted that the car accident that caused her parents' deaths seemed to be related to Blake's father...

The man who healed her wounds might be the son of the man who destroyed her life. Thunder roared as Blake’s key turned: "Emma?" Standing before the evidence, her heart was torn. When love and vengeance collided, what would she choose?

"Those need polishing. Kit's in the bottom drawer."

Heat flooded my face. "Julian, please—"

"That's ‘Alpha’ to you." His voice was cold. "I'm waiting."

I knelt, hands shaking. The office floor was cold through my suit.

"Started believing your own press? Those Forbes interviews made you feel important?" He sipped his drink, watching me work the cloth over his shoes.

I kept my head down.

"Look at me."

I met his eyes.

"This is what you are. Not a CEO. Just a plaything on her knees." He smiled coldly.


Briar Vance was a rising star in pharmaceutical botany—until her father's gambling debts sold her to Julian Sterling, the Alpha heir who collects people like trophies. For a year, she's endured his cruelty in silence.

But when Julian forces her to kneel at his engagement party, something inside her breaks.

She flees to a dive bar, where a silver-eyed stranger makes her an offer: "Let me be your fake boyfriend. I'll make him regret ever touching you."

Briar doesn't know Lucian Kincaid is Julian's half-brother—or that he's been watching her for months, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Their fake relationship becomes dangerously real when Lucian discovers Julian is using Vance Botanicals as a front for illegal Moonborn blood trafficking.

To protect Briar and expose his father Dominic's empire, Lucian risks everything. But when an assassination attempt awakens Briar's dormant Moonborn bloodline, their fated mate bond ignites in a surge of primal instinct—and Julian realizes the woman he tried to break is destined for his greatest enemy.

Now Briar must choose: submit to the Alpha who owns her past, or fight alongside the one who offers her a future. Because in the world of wolf shifters, love isn't a weakness.

It's a declaration of war.

"Ten years of atonement, and you flee?"

His fangs glinted as he gripped my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. Dragon scales shimmered along his neck, breath scorching my skin.

"Your Majesty... I beg—" He shoved me onto the bed. Silk tore with a sharp rip, cold air rushing over my exposed body.

"Scared?" He smirked, palm sliding down my waist, fingers tracing slow, burning circles. "Yet you shiver... not from cold."

I lunged for the candlestick, but he caught my wrist, pinning it overhead. His knee forced my legs apart.

"When your father gave you to me," his lips brushed my ear, voice a dark rumble, "you were already mine."

On the eve of freedom after ten years of servitude, Lina Valeria stood one night away from reuniting with her betrothed. But Dragon King Augustus condemned her to the Abyss Mines on false charges—a trap forged from obsessive desire.

Augustus Ashenwing, Supreme Sovereign of Skyhold Citadel, is ruthless and feared by all races. His obsession stems from ancient grudges and dragonkind's most dangerous instinct: possessive desire. He demands her submission, binding her to his throne as his consort.

From prisoner to queen, Lina battles him through court intrigue and twisted passion—fighting for her mother, her freedom, her dignity.

Yet this cold-blooded tyrant reserves all tenderness for her alone. He indulges her temper, bends his pride, compromises without limit—anything to see her smile. Gradually, her heart wavers. But loving him means betraying Kain, who waited eleven years. Torn between duty and desire, she drowns in agonizing guilt.

Love and hatred intertwined—a forbidden dragon romance in a realm of oppression.

The slap came without warning, Mom's palm cracking against my cheek. Blood filled my mouth.

"Eighteen years of wasting my time on worthless, un-awakened trash!" she screamed.

Dad's boot connected with my ribs before I could recover. I crumpled to the floor, gasping.

"Get out of Shadowveil Pack," he snarled. "Crawl back to whatever filthy omega family spawned you. We don't need garbage polluting our territory."

I looked desperately at my brother, hoping for mercy. He just stood there, arms crossed, disgust in his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You're not my real sister. Just some charity case we took in for Vanessa."

Elara spent eighteen years as a living curse vessel for Vanessa, enduring pain and scorn as a wolfless outcast. Cast out and broken, she returns to her birth father's pack only to face new humiliation.

But when ancient Guardian magic awakens within her, Elara discovers a dark conspiracy threatening all werewolf society—a blood magic cult draining powerful bloodlines. As she investigates, she awakens as the legendary Silver Moon Imperial Wolf, a bloodline thought extinct.

In her fight against evil, fate brings her Kaine Thorne, the future Alpha King. Their unexpected bond ignites a love that defies all odds. Together, they must stop an enemy seeking to enslave their world, but victory demands the ultimate sacrifice—Elara's life force to save those who never showed her mercy.

A story of redemption, fated love, and finding the strength to protect a world that cast you aside.

I thought Jon was my salvation—until I saw him kissing another woman and discovered he had destroyed my training plan with his own hands.

With an injured knee, I fought my way back onto the ice, determined to win everything I’d lost. But every time I was about to break, it was always Leon who appeared.

He was cold, dangerous, and impossible to read.

He was also my ex’s older brother.

He saved me from an alley, carried me out of danger, and warned me in that low voice, “Not competing won’t kill you either.”

I asked, “Then why do you keep saving me?”

His gray-blue eyes locked onto mine. “Because I don’t want to see you break.”

I knew I should stay away.

But on the night of a thunderstorm, when the power went out and someone knocked on my door—

Was it really him?

"What's wrong?" I asked, pulling my silk robe tight.

Theron's voice remained controlled and cold. "You are not the biological daughter of the Reed family, and they've found their real daughter."

My face drained of color. I had planned to explain everything upon his return, but Victoria had beaten me to it.

"What do you intend to do about our marriage?" I forced myself to ask directly.

"Marriage for me is a procedure, regardless of who it's with." With that, he picked up his briefcase and left.

_

Six years ago, Leila's fake heiress identity was exposed. Theron ruthlessly divorced her, and she was framed for attempted murder. Only after the divorce did she discover she was carrying his child. Blacklisted and desperate, she survived in a basement until her real family found her—she was the lost princess of Chicago's powerful Randall Family.

She gave birth to precious twins, but was told her baby boy didn't survive, leaving only her beloved daughter. What she didn't know was that destiny had other plans.

Six years later, a business venture brought her back to San Francisco, where she faced her cold ex-husband—who had a five-year-old son. Even more twisted - he was now her patient, completely at her mercy. Gone was his former arrogance; now he pursued her with desperate intensity. Could she ever forgive the man who destroyed her, or would she make him pay for the hell he put her through?

"Looking for trouble?" His gaze locked onto me, lazy yet sharp.

"Take me home," I breathed, pulse racing.

"Know the risks?" His thumb traced my wrist, sending shivers.

"I want it."

His mouth claimed mine, biting. Fingers shoved under fabric, groping. Rip – fabric gave way.

"Dripping already?" He growled, fingers circling my core. "Eager little thing."

"...Stop—"

"Stop?" He thrust two fingers deep. "Or stop there?"

I cried out. He freed himself, hot steel grinding against bare skin.

_

After three years of cold neglect in her marriage to Idris—who still pined for his ex, Raven—Vera reached her limit. A call from Raven during their first intimate moment was the final straw. Divorce was her only escape.

Seeking solace with a friend, a reckless night led her to Atlas Blackwell, the powerful CEO now leading her company. To silence his family’s demands and forge a new path, they entered a one-year contract marriage.

Now, with the contract expiring, Vera stands at a crossroads. Idris begs for forgiveness, promising change. Yet Atlas, her husband in name only, has proven himself her true anchor.

Two men. One heart. Which future will she choose?

Ivy Hayes has one dream: escape to the Solaris Sanctuary where sunlight keeps vampires away forever. But when she encounters her dying high school classmate Lucien Sinclair at the blood lodge, everything shatters.

Lucien is now a vampire, poisoned by silver and descending into madness. His brother Valerius—the ruthless head of the Blackwood family—kidnaps Ivy and drags her into his estate. Her scent is the only thing keeping Lucien sane. She's not a nurse. She's a living sedative, monitored and controlled, her body no longer her own.

Valerius underwent an ancient ritual that severed his empathy. To him, Ivy is just another possession to manage. He controls her every movement, destroys her escape routes, and tightens his grip until she's utterly trapped. But his cold precision hides something far more dangerous—a dark obsession that hungers for more than obedience.

While caring for Lucien, Ivy finds unexpected tenderness with the gentle vampire who still remembers her. But when Valerius corners her in shadowed hallways, his touch blurs the line between punishment and twisted desire.

Then Seraphina arrives—Valerius's fiancée and the woman who once shattered Lucien's heart. Her return ignites a vicious war between brothers, with Ivy trapped at the center.

One vampire offers her broken tenderness. One demands absolute surrender. One wants her destroyed.

Can Ivy reclaim her freedom—or will she discover that some chains are forged with blood, desire, and darkness?

WARNING: Dark paranormal romance with explicit content, dubious consent, captivity, and morally complex relationships. 18+ only.

I was Louis’s girlfriend, the fragile burden he always left behind. For years, I waited in the shadows—my health neglected, my heart ignored—while he treated me like an accessory. But the night he abandoned me in a blizzard for someone else, I finally realized the truth: I wasn't his love; I was just his obligation.

Trapped in a freezing RV with a failing heart and no way out, I faced the end alone—until Graham Cox arrived. Louis’s cold, aloof older brother—a man who had always viewed me as an annoying pest—tore through the storm to save me. “If she dies,” he growled at Louis, “don’t bother coming home.”

He didn't just save my life; he pulled me from the wreckage of a toxic relationship. But now, the lines are blurring. Beneath his icy, disciplined military facade, a dangerous obsession has stirred. One night, he pinned me against a door, his eyes burning with a hunger he’d hidden for a decade. “Did you really think,” he rasped, “that I only ever wanted to be your brother?”

Now, Louis is begging for a second chance, but I’ve already moved on. I’ve walked into Graham’s cold, calculated trap, and there is no turning back. In a world of family secrets and forbidden desires, I have to choose: the boy who broke me, or the man who is quietly, obsessively claiming me.

I once believed that if I was obedient enough, my birth family would finally love me. Instead, they gave everything to Anna, the fake heiress—my competition spot, my reputation, even my kidney.
Then I opened my eyes and returned to the year it all began.
This time, I won’t beg. I won’t yield. My achievements, my dignity, and my life belong to me.
When everyone called me vicious, Damian Sterling draped his jacket over my shoulders and asked in a low voice, “Am I an outsider?”
I leaned into him and smiled. “Of course not.”
But soon I discovered he was being slowly poisoned—and the culprit might be someone closest to him. Worse, the truth behind my death in my previous life may be darker than I ever imagined…

"I have nothing to offer you," I told him. "Only myself."

"Renard can at least give you a concubine's title." His eyes moved over me once. "Don't imagine you can negotiate for even a blood slave's position with me."

I did not flinch. "I know that."

The knife was still in his hand. His voice was flat. Final. "So why come to me at all?"

"Because my godmother was going to hand me to her husband. I needed another way out." I held his gaze. "You are the most useful person I can reach."


After her parents died, Evelyne Olara made her way to Chalk City, where her godmother had promised there would be a place for her.

There was. Just not the kind she had hoped for.

The Valerius ducal house took her in as a ward and immediately began calculating what she was worth. Her guardian wants her for his bed. Her godmother wants her as a bargaining piece for the winter marriage market.

And at the center of it all stands Cassius Valerius. Grand Inquisitor of the Heresy Tribunal. Cursed with a madness no physician in the empire has ever been able to touch. The man they call the Forsaken Dragon behind closed doors, because everyone who has ever tried to get close to him has eventually stopped trying.

What begins as a transaction, cold and precisely worded and signed in blood, becomes something neither of them has a name for.

He gave her protection. She gave him the only thing that could silence the darkness in his blood. But what happens when a contract signed in desperation becomes the one thing neither of them can afford to lose?

WARNING: Dark fantasy romance with morally complex characters, dubious consent, and mature themes. 18+ only.

I loved Callum Crane for five years. He said I didn't fit. Then he proposed — to my sister.
The same night, his brother called me with the most insane idea I've ever heard: marry him instead. Same day. Same venue. Right across the hall from my ex and my sister's ceremony.
I said yes. Not because I loved Emrys Crane. Because I'd rather set the whole thing on fire than sit in a pew and watch.
Here's the thing about revenge marriages, though. They're supposed to be fake.
Nobody told Emrys.
The man had a wrench set in his truck that only fit my grandmother's machine — bought years before I ever spoke to him. He'd been sneaking looks through my workshop window so often the stone wore down. He fixed my motorcycle three times and never mentioned it. He remembered that I stared at a piece of almond brittle for ten seconds once, and bought it for me weeks later.
Seven years. He'd been in love with me for seven years. Said nothing. Did everything.
And Callum? The man who told me I didn't fit?
He showed up at my orchard with an apology and a folder full of evidence against my sister, begging for a second chance.
I looked him in the eye and said: "Too late. Wrong harvest."
He tried five more times. It only got worse for him.

I am Athena the first born child of the Alpha Caden. I have come back to take my rightful position." She paused. 
"As Alpha."
Gasps and murmurs of wonder disbelief rose in the crowd. It had never been recorded in history that an Alpha werewolf should give birth to a female as a first child. But everyone saw the uncanny resemblance between her and the first queen the heard the Alpha voice of authority in her. But it how was it.
She let the noise die down before she continued.
"Although I never knew my father, you all knew him, Alpha Caden kind, considerate, passionate and respectful of his people. He entertained complaints from the lowest of ranks. Joined in manual labor and from time to time visited the poor. He was loved by many."
She let the whispers of agreement die down.
"I am nothing like him."

Nine and a half million followers. Penthouse in LA. More money than I ever dreamed possible.
I built my empire teaching people to transform themselves, to become beautiful despite their scars. What I never told them was why I needed to learn that skill in the first place.
Then she slides into my DMs: "OMG ScarlettGlow! We went to high school together! Your biggest fan here!"
Madison Blackwell. The golden girl who made my teenage years hell.
She has no clue that ScarlettGlow is actually Scarlett Murphy—the "nobody" she tortured until I disappeared senior year. Now she's broke, desperate, and literally begging me for attention.
I'm staring at her across this overpriced Beverly Hills restaurant, watching her panic over an eight-hundred-dollar guest fee while I casually pull out my black Amex.
The girl who once said I'd never amount to anything is now desperately trying to impress me.
Should I tell her who I really am?

I spent ten years following Ashton around like it was my job. He said jump, I jumped. He said he was hungry, I went and made him a sandwich. His homework, his fights, his messes — I handled all of it. I thought that's what being close to someone meant.
Then at the fall pep rally, in front of two thousand people, he strapped me to a platform, blasted me with paint, and let his girlfriend laugh at me through a megaphone.
I was the punchline. I threw up on camera. The video went viral before I even hit the ground.
So I did the one thing nobody expected — I vanished. New school, new city, new number. Every trace of him, gone.
I thought that was the end of it.
But Ashton doesn't let go of what he thinks is his. And what he's willing to do to drag me back? I wasn't even close to ready for that.

At 2:17 AM, six weeks postpartum, new mom Harper thought she was just responding to her baby's crying. Instead, she discovered her husband Kieran and their live-in nanny Anya in the most intimate embrace—right beside her daughter's crib.
In her most vulnerable moment, in what should have been the safest space in her home, the two people she trusted most were betraying everything sacred about motherhood and marriage. Worse yet, they thought she was just another "baby-brained" mom who would never catch on.

They seriously underestimated what a mother is capable of.

When Harper finds that mysterious $300 Victoria's Secret charge on their shared account, when she discovers Kieran's handwritten love notes hidden in Anya's room, when she overhears them mocking her "annoying" middle-of-the-night feedings—she realizes it's time to show them what a real "burning sensation" feels like.

So the next time they tried to sneak around, Harper secretly swapped out their lube for her own special blend.

If you want to play with fire, let me show you what burning really feels like.

Thirteen years. That's how long I loved Reid Holloway.
When he said he was being bullied, I believed him. When he kissed me on that rooftop, I thought he felt the same. When he asked me to transfer schools with him, I said yes without hesitation.
Then I heard him bragging to his friends: "She'd save her first time for me. Hell, she'd still be thinking of me on her wedding night."
The bullying was staged. The kiss meant nothing. He just wanted me gone—so his new girl could feel more comfortable.
He thought I'd beg. He thought I'd cry. He thought I'd never actually leave.
I left the country.
And ran straight into his stepbrother.

My husband, Roman, has a bad heart. Five years ago they cut his chest open, and after that I quit my job and stayed home to keep him alive.
That day I got to his office ten minutes early with his lunch.
Through the glass door I watched Brielle Nash, his assistant, pick up his pill box. Twenty-eight compartments. I fill it every Sunday night.
She flipped open Wednesday evening, tipped the pills into her palm, and dropped them in the trash.
"That's the one that makes you feel eighty."
Roman laughed. He didn't stop her.
Then she handed him the can she'd been drinking from, and he took a sip out of her hand.
"That's living," she said. "Don't tell the boss lady, though. She'd have me fired."
He reached over and ruffled her hair. "I'll lock it in my drawer."
My lunchbox was sitting by his elbow. He hadn't opened it.
Later I found the flask in that drawer. Supplement bottles. A keycard for a boxing gym.
And a key I hadn't seen in five years.
I didn't do anything.
I went home and opened the safe and went through fifteen years of marriage one thing at a time.
Then I started working out what would be mine when he died.

I was kidnapped at five. Found at sixteen. Dead at nineteen.
My parents are top transplant surgeons. The night I was murdered, they were saving my sister's life with a "legally sourced" donor heart. They signed the paperwork themselves.
That heart was mine. Cut from my chest while I was still breathing.
The sister they saved? She's the one who handed me to the killer.
For three years I lived under their roof. They slapped me for things she did. They called me ungrateful when I couldn't donate a kidney I'd already lost. They forgot my birthday to throw her a party.
And when I went missing, they didn't look for me. Dad said, "Even if she dies out there, she has no one to blame but herself."
He was right. I did die out there. And he's the one who signed off on what happened next.

When my Alpha told me a rogue faction was going to destroy our Pack, I volunteered as a hostage to keep him safe.
Three years in a cage. Branded with silver. Broken like a feral. Every rogue in that compound had me. The only thing that kept me alive was a toxic root that numbed the pain — and was slowly killing me from the inside.
Then my Alpha showed up and told me the truth.
There was never any threat. He'd staged the whole thing — hired the rogues, built the compound. Because I'd embarrassed his precious Cora in front of the Pack, and he needed me to "learn my place."
Now he wanted me back. Wanted to make me his Luna again.
But I wasn't the same woman who walked into that cage. And the truth about what happened to me there?
He didn't believe a word of it.
Not until I was already dead.

I spent two years quietly building something I thought was worth building.
Full recovery support after birth, someone checking in on meals, leave approved the moment you asked for it. I worked out a deal with the best facility in the city and covered the difference myself, out of my own account. Not a cent of company money.
I did it because I'd watched a good employee disappear from the company the year she got pregnant. No announcement. Her desk just cleared out one day.
Then one of them posted about it.
She called it surveillance. A golden cage. The comment section called me a predator. By morning it was trending.
Here's what none of them knew: not a single dollar of that program belonged to the company.
So I listened to what they wanted and gave them exactly that.
I shut the whole thing down.

On a full moon, every wolf has to be inside a registered shelter before moonrise. That's pack law.
So when my husband's leave finally lined up with a moon, I spent six months and eighty thousand dollars booking his whole family into a top-tier sanctuary on Silverspine Ridge. Then his first love decided she wanted to come.
Instead of telling her no, he gave her my registered bed — and sent me a queue number for the state shelter, a thirty-six-hour line for a bunk in an open ward full of rogues. I looked at his parents, his sister, waiting for one of them to object. Every single one of them took his side.
So fine. I drove the other way, and spent the next three full moons enjoying myself — alone. That's when the whole family started to panic...

I had been Lucan Ferretti's wife for five years. I had also been the woman who took a bullet meant for him.
Four years of fertility treatments. Four years of empty rooms where a nursery should have been. Then, the day I finally get a positive test, I find something else: two secret sons, funded by my husband's money, waiting in a house I was never supposed to find.
Their names? The ones Lucan and I picked out together, years ago, in a hospital parking lot.
That night, I sat alone with the positive test still in my hand, memorizing the names he'd already given to someone else's sons.
I could have confronted him. I could have screamed, thrown things, demanded a divorce.
Instead, I find a text message. His mistress has already ordered a hit — on me, timed for our anniversary, dressed up to look like enemy retaliation.
She wants me dead before I can tell anyone I'm carrying his child.
Fine.
She can have exactly what she asked for.

Our ceremony was ambushed underground. One exit. Corvin was the only one who could move fast enough to carry someone out.
In my last life, he chose me — and left Niamh behind. She didn't make it. He spent five years after that making sure I understood what that meant. Every day I woke up was a day she couldn't. When I finally ran out of ways to leave quietly, I chose a window that faced east and walked into it.
Now I'm back. Same corridor, same chaos, same choice.
This time, I said: "Take Niamh."
The way his shoulders came down — like something he'd been holding for years, finally put down — told me everything five years together never did.
He promised to come back. He was already moving when he said it.
I knew I had to get out myself. But the ferals who'd killed Niamh last time found my corridor before I made it to the stairs.

Our plane went down on a deserted island. The boat fit two. My fiancé Callum was the only one who could drive it.
In my last life, he chose me — and left his childhood sweetheart Vesper behind. She didn't survive. He spent five years making sure I knew it was my fault. Every day I breathed was a day she couldn't. When I held a knife to my throat to get a divorce, he drove us both into the sea.
Now I'm back. Same island, same wreckage, same choice.
This life, I said: "Take Vesper."
The relief on his face — the way his whole body unclenched — told me everything five years of marriage never did.
He promised he'd come back for me. He didn't look back once.
I knew I had to save myself. But the bear — the same one that ate Vesper in my last life — reached the crash site before I could move.

My best friend could charm any man alive. I just didn't know how — not until it was too late.
Every boyfriend I ever had, she'd get close, turn on that pull of hers, and wait. They always fell. Then she'd send me the proof with the same sweet line: "Babe, you should be thanking me. I just saved you from another cheater."
Five boyfriends. Five "loyalty tests." Five relationships she destroyed and called it a favor.
I ran. Started over in a new pack. Found my fated mate — Callum Drake, the Alpha of Silver Ridge. For the first time in years, I felt safe.
On our mating ceremony day, she walked into my dressing room wearing an attendant's uniform.
She drugged my wine. Put on my robes. Crawled into my mate's bed.
I caught her. Threw her out. Thought it was over.
Months later, I was bleeding out in labor — and my mate stood over me, refusing to save me, because he'd been in love with her the whole time.
I died on that table.
When I opened my eyes, I was back. Same day. Same ceremony. Same best friend, same smile.
This time, I didn't scream.

Six weeks after his girlfriend had twins, my husband got himself fixed. He billed it to my insurance.
Then he spent nine years driving me to fertility clinics. Two surgeries. Four rounds of shots. He held my hand every time and told me next time.
The whole town said it was my fault. His mother asked me every Sunday if there was any news.
I died at forty-four. Three days before the end I couldn't open my eyes, but I could hear them over my bed. The girl I bought a purple bicycle for called him Dad.
Then I opened my eyes and I was thirty-four again, on a gurney, waiting for them to open me up one more time.
Last time I lay back down and let them do it. I did it three more times after that.
This time he's paying me back for all nine years, one line at a time.
The nurse asked me to confirm my date of birth. I did. Then I told her I wasn't doing it.

The winter I was eight, I found my own face in a trash can.
It was on a missing-child flyer. The girl on it had been gone five years. She had a birthmark on the back of her neck.
So did I.
There was a reward. A number with a long row of zeros. I didn't want it.
I was cold. I hadn't eaten since yesterday.
I just wanted a mom.
So that night, with a stranger's coins, I called the number at the bottom.
A woman answered on the first ring and screamed a name at me like it was mine.
She got to say it three times.
Then a hand came out of the dark behind me and hung up the phone for me.

Our team lost four games in a row. And somehow, that became my fault.
Team captain Reid stood in the locker room and told everyone I'd been giving performance enhancers to my ex on the rival team — that I had a problem with athletes, that I couldn't control myself. The guys laughed. Nobody stopped him.
I went to my supervisor Paige for help. She told me Reid noticing me at all was something I should be grateful for. That the way I dressed was basically asking for it.
Then the university president called me in and made things very clear: push this any further, and my academic future disappears.
Every single person with authority had already chosen a side.
So I climbed the stairs to Paige's office, hand raised to knock —
And stopped.
Because I could hear her through the door, clearly touching herself — whispering Reid's name.

Someone posted a love confession to me on the campus board the same week I got nominated for the Outstanding Thesis Award. By that evening, my roommate's boyfriend had already commented—claiming I'd slept with our professor and faked my entire thesis.
My roommate swore she'd handle it.
She didn't.
A used condom appeared at my lab bench. Photos of a woman leaving my advisor's building at 2 a.m. went viral. The university pulled my thesis. My professor told me to disappear quietly. My parents drove six hours to slap me and tell me my sister would never.
I lost my degree, my family, and my name. Then I lost my life.
The night I died, I finally saw what I'd missed in those photos—a detail that proved it was never me.
I woke up three weeks before my thesis defense.
I remember everything. And this time, I'm not keeping quiet.

My bestie Isolde and I were lured to a resort in another country.
Crescent Bay, a place that turned She-wolves into property.
Any wolf with enough money could have us for the night. That was the arrangement. That was what we were worth, once we were in.
When my husband Cael broke through the gates with a unit of Hargrove Pack warriors, I was in the back room counting the night's take. Top earner three months running.
Isolde was in the basement. Brain-dead. Pregnant. The machines were the only reason her heart was still beating.
Hargrove Pack put up half a million dollars for the name of whoever had trafficked us.
I was the only one who knew. I said nothing.
Vivienne — Cael's mother, Isolde's Luna — got down on her knees in front of me and begged. I closed my eyes.
Pack enforcers questioned me three times. I gave them the same answer every time, which was no answer at all.
Then Cael ran out of patience. He called for a witch to extract my memories and put them in front of everyone who had ever known me.

I have a condition that multiplies pain by ten thousand. A paper cut can put me on the floor. Chasing a cure is how I ended up owing money to a loan shark.
He came to collect in person. I was on the floor of a basement in the South End, mid attack, with him standing over me, when Sevrin Voss kicked the door in. He broke both of the man's arms, crouched down on the filthy concrete, and pulled me against his chest.
And the pain stopped. Just stopped.
By morning he had paid off my debt. By the end of the day he owned me. Three hundred thousand, plus a private medical team, plus a penthouse I never asked for. Then he put a contract in front of me. Absolute obedience. No leaving.
He says the white pills will keep me alive, and I've been taking them.
So why does he still come to my room every night and hold me until morning?